Cancelled Plane Flight=Amusement Park

So, after the girls got back from Girls Camp, that was when I had planned a huge Going Away Party with their friends that started at the Army Base's Independence Day Celebration.  You'll see the post here.

The next day was Sunday which we spent packing and packing and packing.  The girls were scheduled to leave early Monday morning to fly back to the states for the entire summer.   By Sunday night, their bags were already in the car, they were showered and dressed in their traveling clothes.  Their passports, traveling documents, unaccompanied minor passes, Melatonin and Benadryl, money and Emergency Phone Numbers were already organized and packed into a nice little organized coupon wallet.  And we had already set the alarm to make sure we were up by 6:30 a.m. to be out the door by 7.  The excitement and nervousness had already been set and everyone was ready to go.  So, to get a call at 4:00 a.m. that same morning from the airlines stating that their flight would be delayed an entire day was extremely disappointing to the girls who were so excited to see their dad, his little family, my mom and dad, aunts and uncles, all their cousins, .  They were SO disappointed.  I didn't even know how to break the news.

So, who swoops in to the rescue?  Brian, of course.  He announces that we're all going to Holiday Park! Remember the amusement park the girls love and went to with their Youth Center I posted about a few days ago?  Yup. He wanted the girls to get their mind off it so he took the day off and we all went to Holiday Park.

Get ready, there are quite a few pictures.  You'll see why.

So, Xanthe got a hold of the camera and started taking some cool shots of Spencer and Brian, as well as Xoe and the water fountains.  Xoe took some that I posted awhile later. This is where the tons of pictures come in.  Check them out.  And as always they surprise me with how great their photography skills are without any training yet. (Keep in mind that it looks like Blogger compressed them a lot so some of them appear darker than the original).

I love this set of pictures.  She caught some great emotions and moments.

This is Xoe now taking pictures. She does a super amazing job too.  Although I deleted a bunch of the water, just like I did with Xanthe's.  There are like 75 pictures of the water up in the air.

Spencer LOVED to watch the roller coasters. He kept calling them trains. Which, I guess if you think about it, they're on a track, cars hooked together, so I guess they are.

Brian and the girls went on the big roller coaster so Spencer and I played nearby.  We found a place that was central to the roller coaster so he could see it racing by.  Check out the video I posted.

This next picture was near where Spencer and I were.  I had to take a second look as I was walking by. Anyone guess what I thought I saw. Haha.

They had this amazing car ride that all 3 kids, including the 12 year olds, did NOT want to get off of.

Okay, and those of you who have lived in Germany before, or Europe for that matter, this next set of pictures totally crack me up EVERY TIME I SEE THEM.  Cuz this is exactly what happens EVERY TIME we are at a light.  Germany is notorious for putting their lights far lower than we have them in the states, and sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to when they are going to change.  Sometimes you could be sitting at a light for a very long time, and everyone does EXACTLY what they did.  I still crack up scrolling past this sequence. haha.

Xoe waiting at the light for awhile.

Xanthe rolling up next to her.  Maybe swap a bit of chit chat.

Still waiting.

Ummmm, what's happening?  Why isn't it changing?

I love this traffic circle. This whole car place was spot-on with the signs and one way streets.  We have amazing traffic circles which alleviates many 4-way stops.  Traffic flows so much better. Wish the states would adopt this.

This next sequence of pictures I am posting mainly for my brothers in the states, even though they'll probably never see it.  These characters were so random to me.  They probably aren't that random to the Germans, but we had no idea who they were or what they were saying.  And even though I posted pictures of many scenes, it was kind of funny that most of the little boat tour was barren and then a random scene.   I think it was supposed to be scary, it probably was for Spencer's age, but it was a little silly to us. We started making up our own story.  Just take the time to analyze each picture. It's kinda funny.  Snow bombs by riding a bike. the evil snowman freezing the boat riders and the dragon saving the day by blowing his hot air on you (via a heater).  Pretty funny.

This is what it looked like most of the way.

After we ate a late lunch, we were all kind of tired so we killed some time in this little playhouse for the babies.  We ended up making an obstacle course that got us laughing so hard.  Well, at least me.  i won't post all the videos but these ones give you an idea.  Sorry for my giggling in the background.

All in all, it was a very fun day! Thank you Brian for cheering us all up by surprising us with this.  You rock!